How to Detect and Prevent Brute Force Attacks on Hosting Servers

The most persistent cybersecurity threats facing hosting servers today are brute force attacks. Cybercriminals who use such attacks try to gain access to the server by guessing login credentials. That is why it is important to implement secure hosting, and its strict defense mechanisms are essential. In this regard, a VPS server hosting by Liquid Web is a reliable hosting provider that can provide the necessary security to prevent such threats. Choosing a reliable hosting provider is the first step towards detecting and preventing brute-force attacks on hosting servers. In this article, we will learn how these hosting providers detect and avoid such issues.

Table of Contents

How to Detect Brute-Force Attacks

1. Unusual Login Attempts:

Determining abnormally high login attempts by your server logs, for example, from the same IP or a wide range of them, means that there is a brute force attack.

2. Increased Server Load:

Brute force attacks generate unnecessary authentication requests to the server that, in turn, can cause CPU and memory spikes. The server can be slowed suddenly, indicating that a brute force strike was made.

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3. Failed Authentication Logs:

The analysis of authentication logs (/var/log/auth.log on Linux or the Event Viewer on Windows) can reveal the repetition of failed login attempts, just suspected a brute force attack as possible.

4. Locked User Accounts:

If user accounts are locked due to multiple incomplete login attempts, the attacker might be looking for a way to gain unauthorized access to them.

How to Prevent Brute-Force Attacks

1. Use Strong Passwords and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

To prevent brute force attacks, successfully activate secure passwords, which should:

Be at least 12-16 characters long
Include a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and punctuation
Not be words that are short and easy to guess
Applying Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), besides adding an extra bar of security, also impedes the chances of unwary access.

2. Limit Login Attempts:

Through sparing attempts not successfully carried out to log in, you can avoid assault targets with the use of monitor scripts. These programs, such as Fail2Ban (Linux) or Windows Account Lockout Policy, can stop suspicious IPs automatically after several failed attempts.

3. Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF):

A web application firewall (WAF) is between the user and the hosting server, and it checks and filters network traffic before the request comes to the server. Server providers such as Liquid Web include WAFs that can act as a fortress to block not only the most common brute force attacks but also new cyber threats.

4. Enable SSH Key Authentication:

As a Linux server admin, you can achieve the most substantial security by falling back to a method using SSH key authentication. Most recently, there has been a shift in emphasis on more advanced security systems like SSH, which guard against brute force attacks. SSH keys use encryption, which is hard to crack, thus securing against brute force logins.

Final Thoughts

Hosting servers can be easily compromised by brute force attacks, but connecting them with solid security will make them impenetrable to unauthorized entry. A VPS server from Liquid Web can be used to ensure a safe hosting environment that has mandatory protection against these types of attacks. By implementing the use of OTP and DO and supervising the server logs, we can add resistance to protect the infrastructure.